Boys Basketball Earns Gutsy Overtime Win at South

Canton South Wildcats Basketball Scoreboard Charles Red Ash Gymnasium

Louisville 78, Canton South 74, OT

In a thrilling back-and-forth game, the Louisville Leopards came out on top in a 78-74 overtime thriller against the host Canton South Wildcats at Charles “Red” Ash Gymnasium Tuesday Evening. With the victory, Louisville is now 3-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

Drew Noble willed the Leopards to victory with a team-high 23 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. His Beatty's Sports I love Footballpair of free throws with 1 second remaining in overtime iced the game for Louisville at 78-74. However, his earlier defensive play with 21.2 seconds left in regulation may have been the most important play of the contest.

The Wildcats led 63-62 and were inbounding the ball at mid-court. The 6’7 Noble stood tall, leaped into the air and deflected the incoming pass back to the inbounding Canton South player that was standing out of bounds. Leopards Ball.

On the ensuing possession Louisville patiently worked to find an open shot. It came with 8.8 seconds left when Joe Crank buried a three-pointer at the top of the key to put the Leopards ahead 65-63.

However, Louisville’s celebration was short-lived as Canton South’s Malik Campbell sped down the full-length of the court and laid in a basket with 2.3 seconds remaining. Campbell finished with a game-high 24 points to lead the Wildcats. With the game tied at 65-65, the Leopards missed a half-court prayer at the end of regulation sending the game into overtime.

Blake Hoover took over after that as he scored 7 of his 20 points in the extra period. He made all three of the Leopards field goals in overtime which included making a bucket while being fouled with 1:01 remaining. Hoover hit the following free throw to complete the old fashioned three-point play and put Louisville ahead 72-68. On the Leopards next possession, he broke free on a fast break to give his team a 6-point advantage with 28 seconds left. Louisville made 7 of 8 shots from the line down the stretch to seal the game.

Earlier in the first half, Jake Pukys stole the show. Pukys, who did not play against West Branch due to an injury, returned to bury 4 three-pointers in the opening quarter. This helped erase Canton South’s early run and put Louisville within one at the end of the first quarter at 17-16. Pukys also hit another triple in the second period as he finished the first half with 15 of his 19 points for the game. The Leopards led 36-32 at the break.

Even with the victory, Louisville still trails the all-time series 46-94 but they have won 9 of the last 13 against the Wildcats overall. This is the Leopards first win at Canton South since December 28, 2010 when Louisville prevailed 64-59. This also marks the third time these two squads have gone to overtime in the past four seasons with the Leopards winning all three of those contests. The combined 152 points is the most scored in the series since January 2, 1981 when the host Wildcats won 103-59 (162 combined points). The highest scoring game in the series also came at Canton South on January 30, 1976 with the Wildcats winning 108-62 (170 combined points).

UP NEXT: The Leopards will next host the Salem Quakers on Friday, December 19. JV will begin at 6:00 PM and Varsity will follow at approximately 7:30 PM.

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Varsity Statistics

LEOPARDS 78, WILDCATS 74

LEOPARDS: Noble 9 5-8 23, Hoover 9 2-4 20, Pukys 6 2-2 19, Crank 3 1-2 9, Hahn 1 2-2 5, Libertore 1 0-0 2. TOTAL 29 12-18 78.

3-Pointers (8): Pukys (5), Crank (2), Hahn

Team FT: 12-18 67%

WILDCATS: Campbell 8 8-10 24, Nicoletti 8 4-6 21, Daniska 4 0-1 8, Ickes 3 2-4 8, Tharp 2 2-2 7, McCoe 2 0-0 4, Crum 1 0-0 2. TOTAL 28 16-23 74.

3-Pointers (2): Nicoletti, Tharp

Team FT: 16-23 70%

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Team 1-2-3-4-OT–TOTAL

Louisville 16-20-13-16-13–78

Canton South 17-15-13-21-9–74

Fouls: 19-17 Canton South

Turnovers: 12-11 Canton Sout

Records: Louisville 3-0, 2-0; Canton South 2-2, 1-1

JV: Louisville 51, Canton South 42

The Leopards scored the final nine points of the contest to down the host Wildcats 51-42 Tuesday. With the victory, Louisville is now 3-0 overall on the season and 2-0 against the NBC.

Zach Fresenko hit all 4 of the Leopards three-pointers and scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Leopards. Jarrett Heater also poured in 14 points and Jared Holland added 6.

Canton South was led by Stephen Mottice who scored a team-high 13 points and Caden Jeter who dropped in 11.

JV Statistics

LEOPARDS 51, WILDCATS 42

LEOPARDS: Fresenko 6 0-0 16, Heater 4 6-9 14, Holland 1 4-5 6, Weston 2 1-2 5, Birone 2 0-0 4, Wahl 2 0-0 4, Chaplik 1 0-0 2, Davis 0 0-2 0. TOTAL 18 11-18 51.

3-Pointers (4): Fresenko (4)

Team FT: 11-18 61%

WILDCATS: Mottice 5 0-2 13, Jeter 5 0-1 11, McCue 1 3-5 5, Parsons 2 0-2 5, Downing 2 0-0 4, Herrington 1 0-0 2, Thompson 1 0-0 2. TOTAL 17 3-10 42.

3-Pointers (5): Mottice (3), Jeter, Parsons

Team FT: 3-10 30%

Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL

Louisville 14-12-9-16–51

Canton South 20-6-9-7–42

Fouls: 18-13 Canton South

Turnovers: 11-6 Canton South

Records: Louisville 3-0, 2-0

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